[Rataxes]

It would have to be one of those (thankfully quite few) no-name wilderness areas that just contain a whole lot of nothing. The rocky area east of the Nashkel Mine (not the one with the 2nd exit from the mine) is pretty dull for instance.

The Firewine ruins aren't too bad though I think. Just as long as you avoid any pointless wandering around and backtrack as little as possible. Just do it as straight and quickly as possible.

1. Get armor
2. Deliver armor
3. Kill Ogre mage and get out

I usually park my "weaker half" in the large room near the Firewine Bridge entrance and leave a bunch of summoned critters, like the skeletons my recent Cleric/Ranger PC had access to, with them to protect them from stray Kobolds. Meanwhile, my fighters carry out step 1 and 2. I then take my entire party to the Ogre mage and the exit.

Having Haste helps alot here, actually it helps alot elsewhere too. I think getting that spell is the turning point in BG1 in fact. You transform from a sluggish bunch of powerless weaklings to an unstoppable whirlwind of insane Tazmanian devils. Haste seems to double the speed of the AI and greatly improve the microscale path-finding as well, so actually getting your entire party around in the narrow corridors of the ruins without getting them clustered up in some corner is much easier, and quicker of course.